It should be no secret that the Iranian Regime is responsible for most of the woes of the Middle East, which is why the second panel of the FreeIran Gathering in Paris, organised by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), was dedicated to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and their meddling in the region.

The panel, which began at 2.30 pm local time today, agreed that the Iranian Regime seeks to export its malign revolution across the Middle East and the world at large. This is something inherent within the Regime, having been written into their constitution, and will not be altered until the mullahs are overthrown.

General James Conway, the former Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, reported that meddling is not a strong enough word to describe the Regime’s activities, suggesting that more apt terms would be “interdiction”, “subversion”, “cancer” and even “takeover.”

General Charles Wald, former Deputy Commander of U.S. European Command, said: “The security of the Iranian regime depends on the export of revolution by that regime.”

Raid Yassine, Ambassador of Yemen in Paris, said that we should require Iran to change that part of their constitution. However, the Regime will not bend on this and regime change by Iran’s opposition is the only way to change the constitution and stop Iran for meddling in other countries’ affairs.

Mohammed al-Sulami, Head of International Institute for Iranian Studies, said that the IRGC had been created to start sectarian wars to deflect for the Regime’s crimes.

The Regime’s expansionism

Panel moderator Walid Phares, a global terrorism and Middle Eastern affairs expert, explained that the Regime’s expansionist tendency was apparent as far back as the 1980s, when he wrote a book about the Regime’s ideology before moving from Lebanon to the US.  During this time, the IRGC and the Iranian Regime had already begun building their land bridge across the Middle East. He expanded on this in a 1991 article where he predicted that Iran would continue to expand, something which is painfully obvious now. He cited that Iran has taken control in Middle Eastern states, like Iraq and Yemen, but also has projects around the world from Africa to Latin America to East Asia.

Recent Growths

Wald addressed that Iranian aggression has risen as of late because of the failed “naive” nuclear deal, US reluctance to intervene in the Middle East, and the success of Iranian intervention in places like Lebanon and Iraq, including their support for militias.

Conway declared that the Iranian Regime is calling the shots in at least 12 capitals of the Middle East and that the idea of a Shiite Crescent is happening much faster than anyone thought. He said that it is hard to find a conflict that has not been worsened by the IRGC. With that in mind, let’s look at what the panel had to say about just some of the countries that Iran is interfering in.

Syria

Conway revealed that Iran has a great hold on Syria, where there have deployed some 60,000 troops and have spent $60 billion.

Wald said that Iran’s regional ambitions were mainly targeted on control over Syria, where they are providing help for Assad. In doing this, Iran is also ethnically cleansing Sunni majority areas.

Another thing Wald noted about Iran’s involvement in Syria, was that the Regime was also trying to threat Israel, by placing Iranian troops close to the Jewish state’s border and then, after being told to remove them, just placing Syrian military uniforms on Iranian troops.

Yemen

The Iranian Regime is currently supporting the Houthi militia in Yemen, even going so far as to smuggle weapons into Yemen via ships, planes, and trains. These weapons include ballistic missiles that are then fired at Saudi Arabia, who are leading the Arab Coalition to restore the Yemeni Government.

Wald addressed this, by noting that Iran was simply using Yemen as a weapon to hit Saudi Arabia and reporting that the Saudis shouldn’t have to stand for this.

He said: “If even one missile was fired at the US that would be the end of it”

But why, Yemen? Simply, to help Iran with its land bridge.

Frédéric Encel, writer and scholar of geopolitics specialized on the Middle East, said: ““Yemen is an interesting case. There is a new war, a clan war, a tribal war… Iran has taken advantage of the rifts between various clans while Iran was never threatened by any individuals fighting against Iran in Yemen.”

Yassine quoted the Deputy Commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, who said that Iran was more concerned with preserving Yemen than Lebanon, although he points out that Iran has never given any help to the Yemeni people.

Iraq

Iran is the most influential foreign power in Iraq, according to Wald, who highlighted Iranian interference of the Iraqi elections.

Lebanon

Encel said that the Lebanese Hezbollah has become a state within a state that is wholly backed by the Regime and does not even respect the treaties between Arab countries, not to mention the international treaties.

Wald noted that Iran had been accused of maintaining at least two underground missile factories in Lebanon.

How do the Iranian people feel?

Simply, the Iranian people and the Iran opposition do not support the IRGC’s meddling, which can be seen clearly in the protests at home.

Encel advised that the Iranian people do not support the militias that the mullahs promote and the Iran people have had enough.

Sulami said: “The people inside Iran are suffering at the hands of the Bassij, as we are witnessing on the streets of Iran today.”

Conway said that the casualty rates, the waste of resources, and US sanctions over the war have caused even the Regime’s base to oppose this interventionism.

What can the US do to stop the IRGC?

The IRGC and the Regime will not stop on its own, that for sure. So the panellists came up with their ideas on tackling the Regime and the IRGC, whose actions in the Middle East, the US finds “deplorable”.

Wald said that the US must put pressure on Iran for its nuclear programme and regional aggression. He also advised preparing contingency plans for the Regime’s disobedience and said that we must be prepared to shoot down IRGC missiles.

He continued by saying that the US should publicise Iran’s corruption, enforce stringent sanctions on Iran, and conduct diplomatic warfare campaign on the regime.

Conway advised that the US should increase sanctions against Iran and encourage Europe to do the same and provide support for the Iran opposition.

Sulami laid out a strategy to counteract the regime:

1. Legal confrontation through international legal organizations against the regime’s political system and especially IRGC.

2. Economic confrontation; the IRGC does business under many different names, which need to be identified.

3. Military confrontation: When fighting terrorist organizations, do not differentiate between Shiite and Sunni groups who are backed by the regime.

4. Exchange intelligence between governments about the Iranian regime’s activities.

Yves Thréard, the deputy editor for Le Figaro, advised that others also withdraw from the nuclear deal.

He said: ”After the withdrawals of the USA from the nuclear agreement,…. the danger does not come from Trump but precisely from Tehran with the policy led by the regime of the mullahs. If this nuclear agreement is maintained, the fruits of this trade do not benefit the Iranian people, but serve to strengthen the regime.”